Kokohuia

Te Ao Hou, March 1962, Page 20

Kokohuia We were late in arriving, but time didn't seem to matter. Mrs T. Clarke, the president of the Maori Women's Welfare League, waited at the entrance of the marae and called greetings to us as we approached. Kokohuia's meeting-house stands on a hillock looking out over the sweep of the Hokianga harbour; it commands a most magnificent view. The day was bright and clear; we looked down on to the waters and could see clearly the treacherous currents. Miss Toia drew our attention to them … ‘Look, Mrs Andrews, see the currents of the Hokianga harbour, many a Maori fishing boat has been lost out there’…. past and present … the past of the great warriors and the fishermen lost at sea … and the present wish to give to their children the opportunity to fit themselves for living as Maoris within the European culture that is to be their world. We were welcomed into the meeting-house where we were formally greeted by an elder, Mrs H. Dunn. There was a meeting of thirty-five people, and six Maori Women's Welfare Leagues were represented. In the discussion which followed, I noted once more that their concern was for social adjustment in the early years of childhood … ‘The children are so shy when they come to school’, said Mr Holland, the school headmaster. ‘It is sometimes many months before we can even begin the task of teaching; they spent this time learning to live with others’. Mr and Mrs Holland both offered their services to help the community towards establishing a play centre. Since our meeting here a committee has been formed, called the Opononi-Omapere play centre committee; they have mothers willing to train as supervisors, and are now setting about the task of fund-raising. After lunch we bade the Kokohuia people good-bye and continued on our journey. There was a warm and happy friendship within our party by now, and we laughed and joked as we continued along our way. I could write a book about the stories my Maori friends told over those three days. It had been arranged for me to stay that night at the Kaikohe Hotel. The difference of atmo- Members of Northland Women's Welfare Leagues who attended a recent weekend training school for play centre supervisers. Left to right: Mrs N. Harrison (Pukepoto), Miss M. Paitai (Kaitaia), Mrs K. Sarich (Waimate North), Mrs E. Murray (Pukepoto), Miss Te A. M. Toia (Kaikohe), Mrs M. Ruhe and Mrs R. Ruhe (Te Ahu Ahu), Mrs Y. Robson (Pukepoto).

sphere between the happy group I had just left and the quiet of the hotel struck me as being particularly poignant, and the thought occurred that Maori people have much richness in the way of family living, a richness that could benefit our European living.